Elderly and disabled persons (persons recovering from surgery or debilitating disease) frequently are limited in their ability to exercise due to their lack of mobility, lack of access to usable equipment, and lack of additional personnel often needed for transfers to available exercise equipment. In addition, lack of adequate space and personnel needed to offer exercise services can become prohibitive to the retirement communities as well as physical-therapy and rehabilitation centers where such persons seek treatment. Similar challenges can be further exacerbated in a home setting, where little to no additional help or equipment can be readily offered. While the goals of people going through these challenges vary, attaining a better quality of life and regaining their degree of functional independence are some of the major goals of this population.
Various devices exist to provide strength, cardiovascular, and range-of-motion training to users in retirement and rehabilitation settings. Although arguably effective for their intended purposes, the machines known in the art often prove to be inaccessible or unusable and require users to transfer to and from the equipment, and can prove to be too bulky, inaccessible, or complicated for their intended use.
It is therefore desirable to provide exercise and rehabilitation equipment that can effectively strengthen all major muscle groups, provide tools to increase a user's range of motion and ability to improve cardiovascular fitness, as well as to provide ambulatory training in a safe, effective, and function-sensitive manner.
What is needed is a fitness system that can be portable, user-friendly, safe, and easy to use with minimal assistance. The fitness system should be designed to accommodate any type of chair, rehabilitation ball, wheelchair assembly, or any other means for seating. The present invention, as described herein, addresses these known needs in the art.